Richard McFarlane, Wellington Lodge, adapts Angus business

Using quality genetics, minimising inputs and adapting their enterprises has allowed this South Australian Angus cattle business to thrive.

Wellington Lodge owner Richard McFarlane with some of his Angus cattle.

Using quality genetics, minimising inputs and adapting their enterprises has enabled the McFarlane’s business to thrive.

And to prove what they are doing is working, it has resulted in a reduction in labour and improved profits.

Richard and Emma McFarlane operate Wellington Lodge, a 7600ha property, which is home to one of the oldest remaining Angus herds in South Australia, at Tailem Bend.

There they run 600 Angus breeding cows and trade about 800 cattle a year.

Originally a 72,000 acre (29,137ha) sheep station, the McFarlane’s property was split up over generations. Sheep were the main focus for the first three generations, then Richard’s great grandfather bought in Angus cattle from New Zealand in 1925.

Since then the family has gravitated more towards cattle, and in 2010 after the millennium drought broke they wanted to purchase part of the neighbouring property, which was originally part of the larger McFarlane holdings.

Richard said they couldn’t really figure out how to make it work until he decided to trade cattle on the new 2600ha block (which they bought in 2010) to make an instant income.

“We were hearing whispers about rotational grazing but couldn’t work out how a set number of breeders work in a rotational system, so it was a light bulb moment when we realised we could trade cattle,” Richard said.

“We always planned to get rid of traders and breed more cattle on that block once we could afford to.”

But he said they realised they were working extremely hard cropping and breeding both sheep and cattle for little reward.

The success of trading cattle was the catalyst for them to stop cropping, sell the sheep and focus solely on cattle production and trading.

He said trading also helped with the decisions around selling cattle in dry times.

“We really didn’t like doing that, so trading gives us the flexibility to destock rapidly in dry conditions,” he said.

TEAM APPROACH

The herd at Wellington Lodge consists of about a 50:50 split between breeders and trade cattle, but the number of traders depends on the season.

The McFarlanes have bred Angus cattle for almost 100 years and have been part of Team Te Mania since its inception about 30 years ago.

“We had never had a direct relationship with a stud before and we had some involvement with the Beef CRC program around this time (1990s) which was our first real taste of artificial insemination and the difference quality genetics can make to a commercial herd,” he said.

“There was a real lag with genetics, as studs had access to the best bulls, then we as commercial breeders would have to buy that bull’s progeny to get some of the genetics, so it would be a couple of generations before we could access the top genetics.”

“It’s why we liked Team Te Mania because we could access those top genetics early and we have never looked back.”

To maximise the benefits of their Team Te Mania agreement, the McFarlanes join all of their cows through AI.

And Richard said they have made management decisions on how they run their cattle, including joining three times a year, around the AI program.

“The AI program is a bit of an insurance policy. We know we will get 60-70 per cent of cows pregnant in the first round of AI, so there is less risk of a complete bull failure,” he said.

They then back up join with young bulls and record data for Te Mania to help improve their Estimated Breeding Value accuracy.

Richard said they join 200 cows at a time, three times a year.

He said while it sounds like a lot more work, the labour management is easier because the numbers are smaller.

“It keeps us busy throughout the year, but the workload is less at once.”

It means they have reduced labour costs, with the previous four staff now down to two – Richard and one other full time employee.

“When you are doing everything three times year, you get pretty good at it.”

SPLIT SYSTEM

Calves are weaned at seven months onto an irrigated pivot paddock of kikuyu and lucerne, about the same time as their mothers are pregnancy scanned.

While it may seem counterintuitive, they have taken the focus off production figures, which means they know more accurately what to expect and aren’t trying to add to many inputs to meet high targets.

“We used to really worry about pregnancy test targets and get sucked into spending more on nutrition, so we have lowered the targets and taken the pressure off,” Richard said.

“The business is now run on sales, so if we have an empty cow, we sell her and then buy in a couple of traders so we are then selling the same amount of animals.”

They aim for a 90 per cent pregnancy rate and 85 per cent weaning rate, which out of 200 cattle is 180 pregnant and 170 calves weaned.

In the latest results in mid February they weaned 174 calves and 188 cows were in calf again.

“So we are hitting the targets without too many inputs.”

About 800 trade cattle are purchased each year, so far this year they have 828 cattle. But numbers all depend on the season and feed availability.

“In a really good year, the size of the farm the breeders occupy shrinks and the traders increases.”

The property has an average annual rainfall of 375mm, which was right on average in 2023.

Traders are mostly purchased in B-double loads at local markets and are usually Angus steers weighing 200-300kg. However, Richard said none of that was restricted.

The trade cattle and Wellington Lodge steers are then finished for the feedlot market to 450kg, which takes six to nine months, putting on about 1kg a day.

The Wellington Lodge-bred steers are then sold direct to Rangers Valley, which are keen on the high marbling ability of the Te Mania genetics.

“The steers preform pretty well in their long-fed feedlot system.”

The trade steers are sold direct to other feedlots and processors, such as JBS or Thomas Foods International.

Each year about 150 replacement heifers are kept, selected on EBV’s using index values, which put a higher weighting on traits they select for, such as fertility and marbling.

The remainder of the heifers are sold unjoined to other breeders. The McFarlanes also sell some of their heifers through the Team Te Mania commercial female sale, which is being held online on March 22.

Richard said being part of Team Te Mania takes the weight off their shoulders in terms of what to select for.

“We go along with Team Te Mania goals, which align with ours, and we know what we are spending on genetics before we even start, so that helps.”

INPUTS CONSIDERED

At Wellington Lodge the overall aim is to be low input.

“We were heading down the high input road, but we were running a business that was not all that profitable, and combined with that we are living in the old family homestead which needs upkeep,” Richard said.

“We wanted to make a better business, be able to afford to upkeep the homestead – which is important to us – and make it a better place for the next generation.”

So they looked at their inputs and one by one decided what they actually needed.

For example, Richard said they don’t drench cattle anymore, as they don’t see lice or worms.

There also isn’t much additional nutritional input.

“We used to make hay during summer, but we stopped doing it.

“We have made lots of decisions to make the farm more efficient.”

To help them ensure they were on the right track they did benchmarking for a time with an advisor.

“At the time our cost per kilogram was 90c/kg, which is fairly low by industry standards.”

But they no longer benchmark, because Richard found if they kept tabs too much they would get “sucked into doing thing we don’t want to and using more inputs”.

Grazing management was closely monitored and they have a closed season plan.

With a predominantly winter rainfall, they are mostly guaranteed green paddocks by June 1 and yellowing off by mid-October.

“I do a full assessment of the farm to calculate feed, and I can plan actions through the next growing season to maintain ground cover.

“If I find our feed won’t get us to June 1, then we make decisions (such as selling off traders).”

Other tools to ensure they can manage their grass and season includes being flexible to early wean.

“Rather than selling breeders we would early wean.”

They also don’t buy in hay, except for a small amount each year for the bulls which live on a small area of the farm when not with the cows. Any excess hay is then fed to weaners for roughage when on the irrigation paddock or for stock handling when a mob of cattle are purchased in.

“We were in a bad drought from 2005 to 2010 and these methods got us through.”

GRAZING PRIORITY

The McFarlanes use a rotational grazing system, which includes priority grazing and resting paddocks.

Richard said they move cattle very second day in the growing season.

And to promote the germination and spread of native perennial grasses they priority graze one paddock and sabbath another.

“In the growing season we pick out one paddock in each of the five distinct areas of the property and we priority graze it, which means when it gets to toe height we bring cattle back in for as many grazes as we can,” Richard said.

“The sabbath paddock, we try not to use it all year.

Essentially he said one paddock is “hammered” and another gets no grazing.

“All of our paddocks are treated differently, which we believe can allow perennial grasses to get bigger and stronger and survive.

“The system is not repetitive and we have found change equals change.”

It’s proving to work, with lucerne stands planted almost 40 years ago still going strong.

“We did a five year monitoring study with our local Landscape SA Board and had positive results. We had an increase in carbon, improved soil profile and structure. Our water infiltration and biodiversity was improving.”